


History in the Making

by MachaSWicket



Category: Sports Night
Genre: Boston Red Sox, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-01-11 11:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MachaSWicket/pseuds/MachaSWicket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SUMMARY:  This is what happened during the 2004 ACLS when this Red Sox fangirl used the Sports Night characters to squee in fanfic form.</p><p>ORIGINALLY POSTED:  October, 2004, baby! #2004WillNeverDie</p>
            </blockquote>





	History in the Making

Dana studied her shot sheet, scanning to make sure she'd covered all the games. "Okay," she said. "That's it."

Beside her, Natalie sat up a little straighter. "And if the Patriots win--"

"Yes. We push them to the tens," Dana interrupted, her attention still on her clipboard. She glanced up and added with a grin, "Though if they keep winning, it's going to be a little boring leading every NFL segment with the Patriots adding another win to their record."

From his seat halfway down the conference room table, Dan nodded knowingly. "Instead, we should lead with the Dolphins."

Dana stifled a sigh. She wasn't sure how Danny would get there, but she knew precisely where the conversation was headed.

Casey just smirked at his partner. "The 0-for Dolphins?"

"The very same," Dan confirmed. "It's a human interest story. The drive to overcome adversity."

Dana fixed Danny with a skeptical glare. "We're not picking the Red Sox over the Yankees tonight."

Dan adopted his best offended look, placing one hand over his heart for emphasis. It was vintage Danny, and Dana tried not to roll her eyes when he asked, "Have I suggested that we should?"

"You've suggested it every single run-down meeting since the ALDS," Jeremy observed, his tone acerbic. Dana caught his gaze and gave him a grateful look.

"It's their year," Dan stated, blasé. "They're due."

Beside him, Casey choked on his coffee. "They're _due_?" he snorted. "You don't get a gold star just for showing up at the ballpark. This isn't Little League, though you wouldn't know it from watching last night's game."

Grinning, Dan settled deeper into his chair. Dana recognized the look on his face, but didn't have the heart to cut him off until he'd said his piece. He was a sucker for the underdogs; always had been. Last year, he'd craved a Red Sox-Cubs World Series, but had been contented with the upstart Marlins toppling the Yankees.

"The Sox," Danny began, "have the best team numbers in almost every category in the American League, and this with a truly mediocre couple of months in the middle where they played .500 ball. They shut down the Angels in three straight. This time last week, they were favored over the Yankees, with a slight edge in almost every statistical category." Considering the matter closed, Danny sat back to let the others debate it.

Dana frowned at him, crossing her arms over her clipboard. "Your theory only works if the World Series is played _not_ by the teams that win the pennant through a series of playoff games, but by the two teams that have the best statistical record in each League."

Danny arched an eyebrow. "Don't think it would fly with Bud Selig, but it's not the worst idea I've ever heard."

"Which statistics would be decisive?" Natalie asked, pointing out the obvious flaws. "Team batting average? Team ERA?"

"It's funny you should ask that, Natalie," Danny began, "since the Red Sox led the Yankees in all of those categories, plus runs scored, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage."

"Yet they couldn't beat the Yankees in the division," Casey pointed out, leaning back in his chair with an air of smug complacence. "Or in any one of the last three games."

Dan shrugged. "They're still the better team."

Casey shrugged. "Doesn't matter if their middle relief gives up 16 runs. _Sixteen runs_ in one game, Danny."

Dana tapped her glasses impatiently on her clipboard. "As much fun as the, oh, forty-eighth iteration of this same argument is, can we table this until later?"

Dan actually looked like he was considering it. "When later?"

"After the show," Dana suggested, pushing her chair back.

"After the show, the game will be over," Danny pointed out.

With a sigh, Dana slumped back down. Because Danny had this thing in his teeth now, and he was nothing if not stubborn. 

Nodding, Casey added, "And the Yankees will have clinched their second trip to the World Series in as many years."

Jeremy raised his eyebrows. "You know, that attitude may be why Yankees fans are the most despised fans in baseball."

Danny leaned toward Jeremy and lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Not just in baseball. In sports."

Casey gave an unconcerned shrug. "They're also the fans with the most world championships, so it's only natural that they'd be hated. Jealousy is a strong motivator."

Danny ignored his partner and gave Dana a beseeching look. "Okay, we're _definitely_ picking the Sox after that."

Dana stood, holding her hands up for silence. "We're not picking the Red Sox. We're picking the Yankees because they're up 3-0 and the Red Sox are playing like the Bad News Bears, and we're picking the Astros because Oswalt is pitching at home. And if you," she continued, flashing Danny a saucy grin, "want to pick the Red Sox, do it like a real man and bet on the game."

"I already have," Danny assured her with an answering smile. "Casey's going to owe me $500 by midnight tonight."

"I'm really pretty sure it'll be the other way around," Casey countered with a smirk.

Natalie hopped to her feet, ready to follow Dana out, but Danny stopped them with a plea. "You have to admit it would be amazing."

"The Red Sox winning?" Casey asked sarcastically. "Yes, that _would_ be amazing."

Danny ignored him outright. "Jeremy's with me. Right, Jeremy?"

Surprised, Jeremy turned his attention to Dan. "I am?"

"Sure, you are." Danny gave Jeremy an encouraging look across the table. "This would be ten times more exciting than a ninth-inning rally."

"It's never been done," Jeremy conceded after a moment. "No team in baseball has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the postseason."

Danny grinned. "Exactly."

"The 1986 Red Sox were down 3-1 and ended up making it to the Series," Jeremy continued, turning the problem over in his mind. "Plus these two teams are usually pretty evenly matched. If the Red Sox pitchers can get their act together, it's not outside the realm of possibility that they could pick up a win at home." He shrugged. "And, really, every record in baseball is made to be broken."

"By the _Red Sox_?" Casey asked. "This is the team that hasn't won a World Series since World War I."

"Exactly," Danny said again. "They're due. It'll be history in the making."

"History?" Natalie leaned against the frosted glass walls of the conference room. 

Danny nodded. "In the making."

"Do I need to drag out the Bill Buckner package and show it to you?" Natalie shot back.

"Or Bucky Dent," Casey added with an infuriating smile. "Or Aaron Boone."

"Different teams, different times," Danny dismissed. "Curt Schilling won 21 games this season, and after the As series, he's out with an injury. Of _course_ the Sox are going to be a little off-kilter about it."

"A little off-kilter is losing 3-2," Natalie commented. "Not 19-8." 

"I think we should pick the Red Sox," Jeremy decided. "They're scrappy."

"We're _not_ picking the Red Sox," Dana repeated, raising her voice to make sure they all heard her. As if that mattered. 

"Why not?" Danny demanded, obviously pleased that he'd managed to turn Jeremy.

"Because," Dana retorted, "we pick the Sox tonight with Derek Lowe pitching -- Derek Lowe who wasn't even in the post-season starting rotation until Schilling's ankle -- and they lose to the Yankees, like we all know that they're going to, and then we're Fox News calling Florida for Bush."

"Plus," Natalie chimed in, "Fox Sports and ESPN will pick the Yankees. We'll look like a third-place network."

Dan furrowed his brow. "We _are_ a third-place network."

"But we _shouldn't_ be," Dana pointed out.

Danny leaned forward, folding his hands on the table. "And how great would we look if we picked the Red Sox tonight, while ESPN and Fox picked the Yankees, and _we_ were right?"

"Never gonna happen," Casey opined.

Dana pursed her lips, evaluating her two anchors closely. "Okay, here's what's gonna happen tonight. We preview the games, and you can _each_ pick a team. Okay?"

Casey rolled his eyes. "Dana--"

"This is good," Danny decided. "I can humiliate Casey on the air. Again."

Casey drummed his fingers on the conference table. "I'm picking the Yankees and I'm picking the Cardinals."

Danny practically beamed at him. "Red Sox. Astros." He swiveled his chair around to face his co-anchor. "May the best team win."

Laughing, Casey said, "Five hundred on each game?"

"Deal," Danny agreed. They shook hands, and turned to their colleagues. 

Dana shook her head at her anchors, but she was smiling when she did it. "Well, at least we've got our bases covered."

Jeremy and Natalie exchanged a long look, then Jeremy stood and pulled out his wallet. "I've got $100 on Dan."

"I'm with Casey," Natalie decided.

"Me, too," Dana added after a moment's consideration. She was pretty sure she'd be making some easy money, but at least it would make the game interesting. 

"Excellent," Danny said, watching the pile of money in the middle of the table grow. "This is going to be fun."

THE END


End file.
